This invention relates to exercise equipment and, more specifically, to systems and methods for providing improved exercise devices in combination with motivational programing.
In an attempt to improve their health and physical conditioning, consumers are purchasing home exercise devices in record quantities. One common problem with home exercise equipment is motivating the purchaser to use the device on a consistent and ongoing basis. In addition, many exercise devices involve repetitive actions, which can quickly become tedious and boring to a person exercising alone.
In recent years, health clubs have organized various exercise classes and routines involving a group setting. In the proper setting, a group approach to exercise creates a synergy, whereby individual members of the class derive encouragement and motivation from other members of the group. In addition, group settings promote a healthy sense of competition among group members. Initially, such group fitness and exercise classes typically involved aerobics, traditionally performed without the use of any ancillary exercise equipment or devices. In recent years, however, the group work out approach has been extended to classes that utilize various exercise devices. Take, for example, the recent rise in popularity of "Spinning Classes," in which each participant operates his or her own stationery exercise cycle in a group setting, with a coach or instructor leading the group through a prescribed program or routine. Similarly, with recent advances in the design of treadmills, it is possible to have "Treadmill Classes" wherein an instructor not only leads and motivates the group, but the instructor is also able to control the operation of the treadmills of all of the class participants from a single control panel.
One of the primary disadvantages with group training, however, is that it is typically available only at health clubs and, therefore, is not as convenient as exercising in the privacy and comfort of one's own home. It would, therefore, be a definite advancement in the art of home exercise equipment to provide the desirable benefits of group exercise by providing motivational, interactive programming that simulates a group exercise setting in the home.
Some efforts have been made in the prior art to introduce a level of "interactivity" into exercise machines. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,489,249 discloses a video exercise control system in which a video cassette recorder or similar device is coupled, via a hard wired connection, to an exercise machine, such as a treadmill, and wherein the speed and inclination of the treadmill are controlled by the VCR in synchronization with prerecorded audiovideo presentations. U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,509 discloses a remote exercise control system in which an exercise machine, such as a treadmill, which includes a control console that communicates via a communications module with an evaluation module located at a remote location. Signals indicative of the operating parameters of the treadmill are transmitted from the treadmill to the evaluation module, and control signals are transmitted from the remote evaluation module for controlling the operating parameters of the treadmill. U.S. Pat. No. 5,888,172 is representative of another approach found in the prior art, wherein an exercise device is coupled, via hard wired connection, to a video game device, such that the operating parameters of the exercise device are used as inputs to the video game controller, which then produces a motivational video display based on the inputs received. These approaches, however, do not facilitate live, interactive communications between a treadmill user at home and a trainer or coach in a remote location, which allow the trainer or coach to control the operating parameters of the use's treadmill on a real time basis.